No Way Home
by whoeverIamloves
Summary: SG1 is stranded offworld, but with some serious injuries. Hints of romance later, but it's not what you're probably expecting. I'm re-writing this one, since I've learned a lot about writing in the past couple years, so I'm replacing the old with the new.
1. Chapter 1

I originally started this story a few years ago now, and I finally finished it a couple of years ago. As I've written more, I've become more and more embarrassed about the cheesiness of it, so I have decided to re-write it. I hope everyone enjoys! (PS: added bonus for readers is that it's already done, so updating is mostly going to be a matter of editing between each post.)

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"General, we're cut off from the gate! There's too much risk to try to get through now; we're going to have to fall back and try later!" Colonel O'Neill shouted into his radio.

"We're sending reinforcements through to help you out now, Colonel. SG teams 5, 8, and 12 are gearing up now."

"Negative, sir! If they aren't shot as soon as they get here, they'll be stuck too! Best bet is to retreat and gather some intel, see what we're up against."

"Understood, Colonel. We'll make radio contact in one hour. Hammond out."

The stargate on P4X-290 was under siege, if the heavy fire on whatever came through was any indication. The planet was effectively prevented from receiving any supplies or help from…well, anywhere. This is why SG:1 had taken cover as soon as they stepped though the event horizon, and now they were effectively cut off from the DHD. They were extremely lucky not to have been shot yet, but the last thing they needed was to be pinned down in the tiny ruins around the gate. They needed better cover, and fast.

"Sir, those trees over there! The woods should be safer!" Major Carter shouted.

Colonel O'Neill glanced behind him at the trees Carter had inticated, then gave his team the signal to move out. Teal'c took point, followed by Daniel and Carter with Jack bringing up the rear. They had about 50 yards of open ground to cover, and they ran hard, firing pistols at the few sentries around the spot they were headed. The group had almost reached tree-line when Jack hit the ground.

Daniel was the first to react to the lack of gunfire behind him; he spun around and ran back to help the Colonel while Teal'c and Carter provided a little heavier cover fire with their respective weapons.

"Where're you hit?" he yelled, already reaching to help him.

"Leg!" Jack sounded more peeved than hurt. The colonel had twisted as he fell to land on his back, and Daniel pulled Jack's arm over his own shoulder. Sam's expression tightened as the two men hobbled past her and Teal'c and into the trees. As soon as they joined the others in the forest, the enemy fire tapered off.

"They've stopped shooting at us." It was almost a question, and Teal'c answered after looking back at the enemy for a few seconds.

"They are not pursuing us."

"Thank God for lazy soldiers," Jack muttered, looking down at his chest. He touched his ribs at a spot where blood was already starting to soak his vest. He looked at his hand, wincing as he took the next breath. Sam's eyes widened, then she quickly dug a wad of gauze out of one of her many pockets and pressed it over the wound. Jack inhaled sharply when she did, but took over the job of holding pressure on it nonetheless.

"I do not believe that is the reason, O'Neill." Teal'c was staring intently back into the clearing, and the other three followed his gaze.

"They don't care because they're going home," Daniel realized with a note of alarm in his voice. There was an active wormhole, and the were all retreating through it. Just as each member of SG:1 was thinking about the opportunity this presented, they noticed something flying towards the gate. They simultaneously gasped as each realized what it must be.

"Get down!" Carter gave the order and she and Daniel covered Jack as a giant mushroom cloud arose where the gate had been. The boom resounded through the trees, then the leaves settled as though nothing had happened. Teal'c looked up at where the gate had been. It was now buried in debris.

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I'm hoping that this new version will mostly have longer chapters than the original, and therefore not quite as many of them. I'm also hoping that my writing style has gotten a little more mature. Let me know what you think?


	2. Chapter 2

Hi! If you haven't read chapter 1 lately, go back and read it! I changed it some, as I'll be changing things throughout the rest of the story as I re-write and post.

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2 hours later, Sam had stayed with the colonel, who was starting to lose consciousness, while Teal'c and Daniel had ventured further into the trees to search for people or shelter. They had found the latter. The cave they were now residing in was rather shallow with 2 caverns, one behind the other.

Teal'c was standing guard, and Daniel had built a fire in the larger outer room. Major Carter was doing what she could to help Jack in the other smaller cavern. For the time being, this meant making him drink when he was able and making sure he wasn't too hot or too cold, since she had already stopped the bleeding as much as she could. She had removed his jacket and shirt to reveal his chest wound more clearly. He had been hit just below his right pectoral muscle, through his ribcage. It was hard to tell whether the bullet had punctured his lung or not.

Daniel came to stand in the doorway. "How is he?"

"Not so good. He's lost a lot of blood, and when he is conscious, he's very weak. Sarcastic as ever, though," Sam noted.

Daniel nodded in understanding. "What do you think they'll do when they can't dial us?"

"Well, they may assume the worst, but they'll ask the Tok'ra to come and get us if they have a ship in the area."

"What about the Prometheus?"

"It's on a mission to Atlantis, remember? Or had you not had your coffee yet when you read that?" She gave her friend a half-hearted smile. She knew that he may not have even bothered to read that report, since it didn't seem to pertain to him. Then another thought occurred to her. "I wonder why the MALP didn't reveal any of this stuff."

"Who knows? Maybe they were all hiding. We didn't see them until the wormhole was shut down, and maybe any weapons fire was moving to fast to be seen."

"But surely some would have hit the MALP. We would have had to notice that."

"Maybe they were afraid of it and didn't shoot at it at all. They wanted to see what it would do."

"Okay, I guess I buy that, for now." She paused, then frowned. "Daniel, what's that?" She nodded toward his shoulder.

Daniel had been standing with his arms crossed, and now he put them down to reveal a bloody spot on his sleeve.

"Why didn't you say something?"

He looked a little sheepish. "Jack needed help a lot worse than me, and it's not that bad. It's just a graze." Sam insisted that he come and sit by her, and she told him to take his jacket off so she could clean the wound.

"I wonder how they got weapons so similar to ours," she mused as she started to bandage his arm.

"I don't know. Maybe they're almost as advanced as we are? We invented them on Earth; maybe they did the same thing here."

"I doubt it. The only other kinds of advanced weapons we've encountered anywhere have been energy-based."

"Maybe we can ask them, if we ever get to meet them."

"Maybe," Sam consented, but she didn't sound hopeful. Neither said anything else until she finished with her task, and then she stood up. "Can you stay with him for a few minutes? I'm going to go check on Teal'c."

Daniel nodded, and Sam headed outside.

When she got outside, it was a beautiful afternoon, much like a spring day on Earth. She talked for a few minutes with her large friend, and she told him the same things she had told Daniel. Teal'c told her that he had found a creek nearby and that it only took about 5 minutes to walk there and back.

"Major Carter, do you ever feel as though someone or something is observing you?" Teal'c asked, lowering his voice.

"Now and then. Why?"

Teal'c paused to look around. "Since my return from the stream, I have had this feeling. I have swept the area several times, but have found no one."

"Maybe you're just being paranoid because of the colonel?"

Teal'c said nothing. Sam trusted his instincts, but if he had found nothing, it most likely wasn't there. _Right?

* * *

_

Sam was again sitting with her commanding officer. He seemed to be getting worse, but the process was slow. He was conscious about half of the time, and during those times he was capable of holding brief conversations, indicating that he had gotten lucky and the second bullet had not punctured his lung after all. For now, though, he was sleeping and Sam took this time to reflect.

_What if we're stuck here forever? He'll die if he doesn't get real medical attention within a couple of days, and we haven't even had a chance to talk to the locals. For all we know, they could kill us on sight if they think we blew up their gate. Or, even if they _are_ friendly, which is not likely since they seem to be in a state of war right now, Teal'c will run out of trotonin. _

She stopped herself momentarily and thought about what Jack had told her when they were stranded in Antarctica.

_No. We will not be stuck here. We will be rescued, and everyone will be fine and everything will go back to normal. Colonel O'Neil will just have to face some really big needles when we get back. Lucky for him, he'll probably be unconscious by then. If he's still alive._

Sam sighed quietly. She was not doing any good sitting here thinking like this. She decided that her energy would be better spent tending to the colonel. Then she realized he was fine, or at least as much as he could be, under the circumstances, so she decided to save her energy and take a nap. She quietly lay down about a foot from him, and tried not to think her despairing thoughts while she drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Avea (uh-VAY-uh) contemplated the humans below her from her perch in a tree. These must be the famous Tau'ri team she had heard so much about. A pretty woman with short light hair, a man with sandy hair and the face of a scholar, a large jaffa, and an older man who was clearly a soldier at heart.

She rubbed her pointy ears with her extra-long, slender fingers. She was very concerned about the well-being of the last one. She had seen his team carry him into her home away from home. Usually she resided in a quiet little tree-house, but sometimes, when she wanted something different or when she was entertaining, she adopted this cave as her home. After all, she didn't want the children from the village to come taunt her at her real home, so she kept it secret. Another secret she kept was that of her appearance. She was different from the people of this world because it was not her home world. She had left that when she was very young, and had traveled many places and seen and learned many, many things in her relatively short life. One of these lessons was that groups of less advanced races were not usually very accepting of unfamiliar species.

She considered for a few more moments about whether or not she should intervene. _If I don't, their leader will definitely die. If I do, I risk revealing too much. I've heard a lot about these Tau'ri, and they are a most inquisitive group. They will question everything about me. I might accidentally reveal something that could destroy them. Not that I would have to reveal anything to them…_ she observed the scholar among them as he left the cave opening. Presumably, he was headed to the creek since he carried two canteens. _I'll just follow him and watch for a while. That way, I'll be able to predict his reaction when- I mean, if- I decide to help them._ She rationalized with herself a little more as she silently moved from tree to tree above Daniel. She tried to argue with herself more, but the compassionate side of her had already won out.

Daniel's mind wandered aimlessly as he walked in the direction Teal'c had pointed him to refill 2 empty canteens. It didn't matter what he concerned himself with, as long as it kept his mind off of his friend. His own arm was hurting a little, but he knew he had survived much worse. Finally he arrived at the creek and bent down to submerge the first container.

Avea silently climbed down from her tree. She still wasn't sure how this one would react, but she knew that of the 3, this one seemed to be the most understanding. She would much rather face him than either of the others, as they seemed to be much more militant. This one had a calm air about him that made her want to reach out to him. She stood quietly for a moment about 10 feet from him as she gathered her nerve. _This has got to be a bad idea._ She took a deep breath.

"Hello."

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Please review? :)


	3. Chapter 3

It's strange to me to think that even as short as these chapters are, I combined a couple of chapters to get most of them. I think this one was an exception, but still. Oh well.

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Daniel nearly jumped out of his skin. He stood up quickly and looked around for the soft voice's origin. What he saw was a petite figure, about 5 feet tall, wearing a long light brown cloak.

_This is unexpected._

The alien lifted her hood to reveal her face. Normally, she would never have shown a stranger her coloring and her pointed ears, but there was something she trusted about these humans. From what she had heard and seen, they were a very accepting people.

_She's pretty_, Daniel thought. Large deep purple eyes gazed at him kindly from their setting in lavender skin, and long wavy black hair cascaded into a dramatic frame. Daniel blinked a couple of times.

"Hello."

"I am Avea."

"I'm Daniel." He paused briefly. "Um, where did you come from?"

"I have been observing you and your friends since your friend found this stream."

_Well, that explains Teal'c's "being watched" feeling._ "From where?"

The alien smiled. "You do not need to know that. What you do need to know is this: I can help you."

Daniel wasn't sure how to answer her, so he decided to err on the side of caution. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Avea tilted her head and smiled gently. "Come, Daniel. You know that your commander is in need of medical attention as well as I do."

"What makes you think you'll be able to help him?"

"Though I look young to you, I am in fact 100 years old. To me, that is still young. But I have more experience than you. I have healed many people from many worlds."

"Is that what your race is? Healers?"

She considered for a moment. _Not exactly, but it isn't untrue..._"That's close enough."

She could see that Daniel still didn't trust her. In truth, she didn't blame him. _If I were in his position, I wouldn't trust a stranger either._ "You do not have to trust me yet. That will come. But can your friend afford to wait for someone you already know?" She paused, then continued even more gently. "I want to help."

Daniel made his decision: It was not in his nature to resist a desperately needed charitable offer. _We'll just have to keep an eye on her._

"All right. Shall we?" Daniel gathered up the now full canteens he had dropped, and Avea fell to walking beside him. "I don't mean to pry, but what race are you actually?"

"You will mock me."

Daniel blinked. That was not a common response. "No, I won't- I promise."

"The others will, then."

"They've seen too many things to be surprised."

"You are not capable of pronouncing it. Humans are familiar with a few sub-races, probably known to you by many different names. For your purposes, I am Furia."

"I've never heard of that before."

"I see."

_Why is this such a sore topic?_

The two of them walked in awkward silence for a brief time, then Avea decided to reveal something else to Daniel, since he would find out eventually anyway. "This cave where you are staying- there are things about it which you do not know."

"What do you mean? Is it dangerous?"

"No, quite the opposite, actually." She knew she had Daniel rather confused now, and she smiled impishly. Confusing people was one of the few naughty tricks she liked to play, but now was not the time. "It is often visited by villagers who have been wounded or become sick. For the time being, however, it is protected."

"Really? How?"

"By me. I come here when I know they are coming, because though they fear me, they view me as a kind of 'witch doctor'. I have convinced them to allow me to live in these woods in return for my services. For now, though, I am ensuring that they do not come."

"How?"

"I will reveal that to you if and when the necessity arises."

"Why are they afraid of you?"

Avea dropped her eyes momentarily, then looked back into his. "Because I am not like them. I know they would not accept me at all if they knew what I am. My healing techniques and this cloak I wear make them think I have some connection to powers completely beyond them."

"Wouldn't it be easier just to tell the truth?"

"They would banish me. Or now since they cannot, they would simply kill me."

"So you've made yourself out to be a god."

The purple one looked up sharply and answered aggressively. "No! They thought that at first, but I insisted that they think of me this way. I need some ruse to ensure my own safety, or I would not have even gone that far."

By this time, they were back to the cave. Daniel summoned his teammates. "Teal'c! Sam! There's someone here you need to meet!" 


	4. Chapter 4

Teal'c and Sam were sitting in the doorway between the two rooms. They had reasoned it out, and they had decided that since there had been no activity and they had no way of knowing how far any village might be, there was no point in standing guard and giving away their presence. Now, each looked up sharply and grabbed their weapons before heading outside.

"Daniel, what's going on?" Sam asked as soon as she saw the short cloaked figure walking beside him. Teal'c raised one eyebrow as if to echo her question.

"Avea, this is Sam and Teal'c." He gestured to each of them as he introduced them. "Guys, this is Avea." She bowed ever-so-slightly in acknowledgment. Teal'c nodded back politely. "She says she can help Jack."

Sam looked at Teal'c, then back at Daniel. "A word, please, Daniel?" It was not really a question, and Daniel followed her off to the side while Teal'c and Avea stood awkwardly looking at each other from a slight distance.

"What do you know about her?" Sam asked quietly, knowing her teammate's tendency to be a little too trusting now and then.

"Well, she's something called Furia, she's 100 years old, and the people from the village come to her when they get hurt."

"Like Kendra?"

"I guess."

"She'd been a goa'uld."

Daniel picked up on Sam's uneasiness. "Look, she could have done anything at any time if she wanted to harm us. She told me she's been watching us, and she knew where we were staying. Instead, she's protecting us by keeping people away from here."

"How?" Sam's scientific curiosity took over for a brief moment.

"Ah, she wouldn't say. I asked the same question, and she said that she 'would reveal that to me if and when the necessity arose'."

"I don't like it."

"Can we really afford not to trust her right now? At least until we have a legitimate reason not to?"

Sam debated for a moment, but it didn't take her long. She knew he was right, and she sighed. "I guess not. Let's go."

Sam walked back to where Teal'c was standing and Daniel went back to Avea. He motioned for her to go before him inside, and she politely complied. She was just passing in front of Sam and Teal'c when Sam's eyes went wide and she raised her gun.

"Hold it!"

"Sam?" Daniel was confused by his teammate's sudden action.

"I sense something in her."

Realization dawned on Daniel, and he and Teal'c instinctively stepped back from the alien. However, she was Jack's only hope right now, and Teal'c reminded Sam of that.

"Besides, if she meant us any harm, she could have picked us off one at a time," Daniel added.

"He is correct. I have been watching you since you came through the gate. Please believe me when I tell you I only want to help." She paused briefly. "I am not a Goa'uld, just as you are not, Major."

This caught Sam's attention. _How does she know_?

"I was once taken as a host to a desperate serpent because there were no other possible hosts in the area. However, she died within 4 hours because my physiology was not compatible." Avea figured she had nothing more to hide on that topic, so she kept talking. "Because I had been taken, though, my people no longer trusted me. They asked me to leave, and never return. Since then, I have been a nomad among worlds. I move from civilization to civilization as I am permitted."

"Permitted by whom?" Teal'c asked.

"The locals. Many people fear me because they do not know the Furia. This world has been one of the friendliest I have been to, and so I have stayed. I do not like it here, but I do what I must to survive."

Sam lowered her weapon slightly. _She's more like Kendra than I realized._

"You said the goa'uld died. Why didn't it kill you too?" Sam thought maybe Avea had actually encountered a Tok'ra like Jolinar.

"As I said, my physiology is incompatible. My race is immune to the toxins of the Goa'uld."

SG:1 was slightly taken aback. Sam's mind raced with the possibilities that could have in combating the would-be gods. Daniel marveled that they had never encountered these people before. Nobody could quite tell what Teal'c was thinking, but it must have been good because he raised both eyebrows instead of just one.

Avea continued to try to dig herself out of her hole. "Major, having been a host at one time, you are able to work the hand devices they use, correct?"

"Yes..." Sam answered tentatively. _I wonder where she's going with this._

"Proficiently?"

Sam looked to Teal'c and Daniel, unsure about whether or not to answer the question. Daniel shrugged.

"Not really. I have to concentrate really hard."

"I can teach you. I have been doing it for many years, and I have become rather skilled in that particular ability, but also in others not of the Goa'uld."

Just then, they heard the Colonel's voice. He sounded a little irate, if weak.

"Carter! Teal'c! What the hell is going on out there?" The three other members of SG:1 looked at each other briefly, then Sam headed inside.

* * *

_I hate being out of the loop!_ Jack waited for one of his team members to come answer his mighty bellow. He coughed, and when he removed his hand from his mouth he saw blood. He hid it when he heard Carter coming.

"Took you long enough."

Carter gave him a wry smile. "Sorry sir. We've had an interesting development."

"Such as?"

"There's an alien here who says she's been watching us since we arrived. She also said that she can help you."

"I hear a 'but'."

"But, she's been a Goa'uld host and I don't trust her."

"Ah." There was a slightly awkward pause, then Jack continued. "Is that all she said?"

"…No." Sam paused to collect her thoughts as she surveyed her commanding officer's wounds. He noticed, but said nothing.

"She said that she could teach me to use the Goa'uld hand devices more effectively-including the healing device- and that her race is immune to the toxins of a dying symbiote."

Jack took a moment to absorb this, and then he spoke, a little more quietly. "Sam, maybe you noticed that I don't have a lot of time left. If you don't trust her, then I'll leave the final decision up to you. But if there's a remote chance that she could benefit Earth, then I'm prepared to take that risk."

"Yes sir."

Jack closed his eyes, feeling an involuntary nap in his very near future. "One more thing." He was almost whispering now.

"Sir?"

"I want to meet her before she does anything to me." With that, he passed out.

Sam checked his pulse, smiled sadly, and walked back outside.


	5. Chapter 5

30 minutes later, Sam, Daniel, and Avea were sitting on stumps and logs. Teal'c was sitting with Jack. They had talked for a short while, and it had been decided that Avea could earn their trust by teaching Sam a little.

Daniel and his wounded arm were to be the test subjects. For this reason, Avea had been allowed to retrieve a Goa'uld healing device from a hidden cubby inside the cave. They had just gotten back outside, and Avea took charge in her gentle way.

"Daniel, please remove your jacket." He obeyed, and the alien handed the device to Sam. As Avea removed the bandage, she said, "Major, I would like to see how you do on your own so that I know where to start."

Sam and Daniel glanced at each other, and Sam gave a little shrug. "Okay."

Avea stepped back and watched intently as Sam took Daniel's arm in her free hand and raised the device to his wound. The alien also noted that this relationship, though a tender one, was strictly as friends or perhaps siblings, even.

Sam furrowed her brow in concentration. After several seconds, the device started to glow. Two seconds later, Daniel made a noise and pulled away, and Sam stopped.

"_That's_ not working- it's making it worse."

"Sorry…"

Avea nodded to herself and stepped forward. "You have a little way to go. That's okay; let's try again. I'll help you this time."

Reluctantly, Sam took her friend's arm again. She didn't want to hurt him again, but she knew he'd live, and she knew that if a little pain on his part could help to save Jack's life, he would make that sacrifice.

"Daniel, this may hurt at first, but I want you to resist the urge to pull away," Avea instructed. He nodded, and Sam raised the device again.

Avea put her hand over Sam's. Sam concentrated again, and the device began to glow again. Daniel cringed in pain, but he didn't pull away. He clenched his jaw instead.

"Major, don't focus so much on the device. Instead, concentrate on the wound. Visualize the tissues healing, the openings closing from the inside out."

Sam closed her eyes and refocused. She felt Daniel relax a little.

Avea saw it too. "Good. Now, just keep going. I'm going to show you what it will feel like when you have practiced a great deal." With that, Avea used her practiced hand to take over control of the device so that Sam was just along for the ride. The device's glow got a little brighter, and Daniel's jaw relaxed significantly. Avea paused for a moment. "Major, open your eyes. Watch what's happening compared to what you feel."

Sam nodded, and to her amazement, the painful-looking wound that had been there now looked only half as severe. Avea continued, and Sam felt energy flowing through her hand. She saw Daniel's wound get smaller and smaller, sometimes quickly and sometimes more slowly. She noted that this seemed to be directly proportional to the amount of energy she felt.

Avea stopped and told Sam to take back over. She did, and Daniel's fist tightened in pain, but only for a split second. Sam barely even noticed when Avea removed her hand. Sam opened her eyes to see the last of the wound vanish. She smiled.

"Wow, Sam." Daniel looked at Sam while Sam stared at his arm and then the device in her hand. Avea just smiled to herself.

Just then, Teal'c appeared in the cave opening. "Major Carter, Daniel Jackson, O'Neill is awake."

Daniel and Sam looked up quickly at Teal'c.

"Great!" Sam was relieved that he was awake so that he could meet Avea. Sam gestured for her and Daniel to follow herself and Teal'c inside. Daniel picked up his jacket and they walked briskly behind Sam.

When they got almost to the second entrance, Daniel turned to Avea. "Maybe you should wait here for a second." She nodded her consent, and Daniel followed Sam.

"Where's the party?" Jack asked when everyone congregated in the same room.

"Sir, there's someone you wanted to meet." Jack looked interested.

"I don't see anyone." He looked around and Avea appeared quietly in the doorway.

Daniel gestured for her to come forward. "Jack, this is Avea. Avea, Jack."

Jack nodded and moved to prop himself up on his left elbow to get a better look at her. When he did, he promptly fell back down. He had knocked the wind out of himself, but he was still conscious. Everyone tensed, and Avea was at his side in an instant.

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I can upload the next chapter tonight, especially if anyone actually reviews. :)


	6. Chapter 6

"Colonel, just try to hold your breath for a moment until you can breathe again." She placed her hand on the center of his bare chest.

Jack felt a soft hand on his chest. He obeyed and stopped trying to inhale for a moment. When he exhaled a few seconds later, he found it was not nearly as difficult to inhale again as it had been a few seconds ago. He also noted that her hand felt unusually warm and was almost conducting the rise and fall of his chest.

"How do you feel?"

"Crappy," Jack replied instantly. "But at least I can breathe again. That's always a good thing, right?"

"Always." Avea rose and addressed all four of them, but mainly divided her attention between Sam and Daniel. "I told you there are things about this place you do not know. I am about to show you some of them. This is where I bring the villagers who are most in need of my assistance."

They all watched with interest as she walked toward the back wall and waved her hand over a particular section of stone. The appearance of rock dissipated, leaving a sophisticated-looking control pad. She touched a pink light, and the room instantly got much brighter. It was almost like daylight replacing the dark of the cave that had hidden everything. Everyone shielded their eyes.

"Um, that's new."

Avea walked back over to Jack. "Colonel, I need to see how badly you are hurt. Do you have any objections?"

"That depends. Does it involve needles?"

Avea smiled. She liked this one. "No, no needles." She began to remove the bandage from Jack's ribs as she spoke to his team. "You do not all need to watch me like hawks. At some point you must trust me."

Sam watched her face carefully, and then nodded to Teal'c and Daniel. From years of working together, they knew that she would stay and they would wait outside or in the other room. Avea understood her concern, and one hawk was better than three.

"Thank you Major." She gestured to Jack's thigh. "Would you mind?"

Sam moved to the other side of the colonel so she could undo that bandage. She noticed how bruised the area around the wound looked. She suppressed a shudder when she thought of doing this same thing under different circumstances.

Jack noticed how gentle the small purple hands were. Clearly, the alien had had a lot of practice with injuries, because she touched him as if he might shatter with too much pressure. Then he felt something around his leg. It took a moment to register that Sam must be fiddling with that bandage, too.

Now Avea spoke again. "Colonel, some of my techniques will be unfamiliar to you, but you shouldn't have any physical discomfort beyond what you already feel. If you do, please let me know."

"Explain as you go," Sam told her in a low voice.

Avea nodded, then placed her hands on each side of Jack's neck so that her fingers were barely interlaced. "First, I just need to make sure that the obvious injuries are the only ones. You might feel a slightly warm sensation from my hands. Don't be alarmed."

She started moving her hands slowly downward, separating her fingers when she got to his shoulders. She was still gentle, but used a little more pressure now. She pulled her fingertips along each collarbone with her palms against his chest, checking for bone fractures. She then explored each arm, mainly with her fingertips.

_I never knew an exam could actually be relaxing,_ Jack thought. He closed his eyes and absorbed the heat coming from Avea's hands. He momentarily let his mind wander, imagining the hands of a certain other individual with short blonde hair doing the same thing under different circumstances. _Okay, stop right there. She's off-limits._

Avea's hands continued down the center of his chest. Finding nothing wrong, she proceeded to check each of his ribs by twos and threes, again with her fingertips. Her hands explored first his whole chest, then his left side. When she got to his right side, she kept her hands about an inch away from the place the bullet had entered his chest. Next, she started on the muscular tissues of his abdomen.

"Now I'm checking for internal bleeding. You are still bleeding slightly here." She touched the area around his wound, and then followed the contour of his lowest ribs. Again, her hands moved very methodically. When she got down to his waistband, she said, "Do not be alarmed." She slowly ran her fingers just under his belt. "Do you have any pain in your hips?"

"No, just in the obvious places."

She didn't see any reason to disbelieve him, so she spared him the awkwardness of a full pelvic exam. Instead, she checked each leg as she had checked each arm, beginning at about half-way down his thigh.

"Alright. That was the part most people enjoy. Now comes the unpleasant." Sam was still standing quietly, watching the alien and her CO. Avea rose from the floor and walked over to the wall control panel.

"What might that be?" Jack asked, wincing a little because he already knew the answer.

"Removing both bullets."

Jack closed his eyes. _Crap. Just when I thought this day couldn't get any worse._

"I'm about to show you something else. You didn't realize that this actually is a medical room, but fortunately, Major, you laid the colonel in the center." She pushed a blue button and a slider switch appeared next to the panel. "I have installed a table in the floor, and you happen to be already positioned on it. I'm going to raise it now." She turned back to the wall and slowly raised the switch. When she did, a stone platform rose at the same speed from the center of the room, elevating Jack almost four feet. As it did, Avea did a little more explaining. "Usually when the villagers leave a patient with me, I ask the others to leave and I render the patient unconscious. That way, they never know the secrets of this place."

"So why are you showing us?" Sam questioned.

"I want you to trust me."

"Why?" Jack chimed in to keep his mind off the impending pain.

"I can only assume that your people will rescue you from this place someday, and I would very much like to go with you." Sam and Jack looked at each other. Sam asked the same question again.

"At the risk of sounding childish, why?"

"I am lonely here. This place is not for me. I have been here too long already, and now you are the only way to leave."

"Is that why you're helping us?"

"No! I would have helped you anyway -that is my nature. I simply would have used more evasive methods." She paused to see how each of the humans would react. For once, she could not read the glance they shared. "I saw your expression when I told you about my experience with the Goa'uld, and I will submit to whatever medical tests your scientists wish. I can also teach your world a great deal about many things."

"You really want to go be experimented on?" Jack asked skeptically.

"I didn't say experimented on. I said medical tests. I am sure your world may want a blood sample, or to study my physiology. Those are the kinds of tests I will submit to, within reason."

"Ah."

"You said you usually render your patients unconscious. How?" Sam was curious.

"It isn't actually that they are unconscious, as that they simply can't remember. I have them breathe a certain chemical that acts as an amnesiac."

By now the table was fully raised, and Avea touched a green light on its side. A shelf slid out. She then went back to the wall. Another hidden cubby opened, similar to the one she had opened to get the healing device. She removed an indistinguishable cone-shaped object that tapered to a flat edge with a semicircle cut out of it. Whatever the object was, it was only about twice as long as her hand's width. Colonel O'Neill strained to see.

"What's that?"

"You don't want to hear the name of it." Avea placed the white object on its large end on the shelf. She then continued to alternate between touching lights on the wall and collecting various items from hidden places. When she was finally satisfied, the shelf held a thin curved knife and a short broad one, each about 3 inches long. There was also something that looked like a cake decorating spatula and 2 small containers, each which appeared to be made of bone. The larger bowl contained a clear pinkish liquid. The smaller held a thick yellowish goo. There was also a strip of what looked like leather, about half an inch thick, as well as several clean white cloths hanging from the bottom of the shelf. Finally assembled, she walked over to Jack's side and rested a reassuring hand on his shoulder, and he looked up into her eyes questioningly.

"Colonel, I can heal you, and I will. First, though, both bullets must be removed."

"I figured. And this is the part where you knock me out," he guessed.

Avea shook her head sadly. "I'm sorry, Colonel. Normally I would, but because of the way this bullet entered, I need you to remain conscious while I remove it."

"That's going to hurt, isn't it?" He asked, but he already knew the answer.

Avea smiled sympathetically. "Like hell."

* * *

The next chapter or two may be a little gruesome. I am not a medical expert by any stretch of the imagination, just in case you couldn't already tell, so if there are mistakes, then either let me know and I'll try to fix them or ignore them and enjoy the story anyway. :) and as always, reviews are appreciated.


	7. Chapter 7

Sam looked like she wanted to ask a question, but Avea shook her head. Jack didn't see because he had closed his eyes again.

"Colonel, just take some deep breaths and gather your strength. I need to talk to your team for a moment, and then I'll be right back."

Jack inhaled deeply, and Sam followed Avea to the outer room where Teal'c and Daniel were waiting. She waited to speak while Avea told Daniel and Teal'c about the Colonel's upcoming surgery. When Avea was finished, she finally asked her question.

"Why exactly can't you knock him out?"

"I need him to stay conscious so that he can react to my actions."

Daniel asked the next question. "What do you mean?"

Avea pursed her lips for a moment while she tried to find the best way to explain her intentions. "The bullet that entered the colonel's chest went between two of his ribs, and it penetrated very deep. Somehow, it went around his lung. However, to reach it, I'm going to have to break at least one of his ribs."

"So, why does he have to be awake?"

"In breaking a rib, there is always a risk of severely damaging the tissues around it, or of puncturing his lung. While I could probably heal that later, it would take a good deal of time and energy- both his and mine. It is much safer for him if he is awake."

Everyone nodded in acceptance of her point. "However, it will be very painful. That is why I need your help."

"With what?"

"I need you to hold him down. Teal'c, I need you to hold his arms above his head. Daniel, you will please restrain his legs to keep him from curling up. Major, I would like you to monitor his heart and breathing and assist me." Again, they nodded, and Avea continued. "Teal'c, Daniel, try not to injure him any further, but use whatever force is necessary to keep him still. This is for his own good. Major, his heart will probably beat faster when he is in more pain, and he will breathe harder. What I need you to do is to try to keep him as calm as possible, and let me know if his breathing or his heart stops, or if it is irregular."

"Okay, but how am I supposed to keep him calm?"

"Talk to him, keep him distracted if you can. Or if that doesn't work, the light pink liquid you saw is made from the extract of a certain plant. It has both cooling and calming capabilities when inhaled. If he starts to panic, dampen a cloth and hold it over his mouth and nose. If he is getting too warm, use a damp cloth against his skin to cool him off. Any other questions?"

"Nope."

"Nor from me."

"I have one," Sam said. "How am I supposed to monitor his vitals?" _There aren't any monitors or equipment here, unless she's got them stashed in more of those hidden cubbies._

"The easiest way will be to touch him. Rest your hand either on his pulse," she gestured to her own throat at the pulse point, "or over his heart." She moved her hand to her own chest, and Sam nodded.

"Then I guess I'm ready, too."

"Good." Avea gestured, and Daniel and Teal'c headed into the back room. Avea stopped Sam as she passed. "One more thing, Major. The piece I generally use for cracking bones is not in this cave. When the time comes, may I borrow your weapon?" Avea gestured to the pistol in Sam's holster, and Sam frowned.

"Why?"

"The white cone you saw functions more or less as a chisel. I'm missing the hammer part, but the bottom of Tau'ri weapons have sometimes served as good substitutes." Sam paused, then nodded and continued. _I guess if we're gonna trust her, now is the time. I'll have to remember to ask about her experience with guns, though.

* * *

_

As soon as Teal'c and Daniel entered, Jack realized what their purpose must be.

"Aww, you guys came to hold my hands."

Teal'c missed the humor as usual.

"That is my purpose, O'Neill. Daniel is here to hold your feet." Teal'c took up his position at Jack's head, but Daniel walked over to look at the items on the shelf.

"Interesting." He wasn't really talking to anyone specific, but the markings and intricate designs looked vaguely familiar. The handles and bowls were fairly ornate. As he was contemplating them, Sam and Avea finally entered.

"Daniel, you are welcome to look as closely as you like later."

Daniel took the hint, and he moved to about Jack's knees. The shelf was on Jack's left side, and Avea asked Sam to stand next to it. That way, the Major could reach Jack's face as well as hand Avea what she needed. Avea stood on Jack's right for the best angle, since that was the side his chest wound was on. "Colonel, can you raise your arms above your head?" He obediently lifted his left arm, but his right would only rise to about 45 degrees on its own. Avea glanced at Teal'c, who then lifted his friend's arm as gently as possible. Jack let out a very soft groan.

"Ah...that hurt." His breathing speed increased slightly, and he took shallower breaths. Teal'c placed his hands just above Jack's elbows so that Jack could grip Teal'c's forearms with the opposite hands.

_Teal'c has done this before,_ Avea noted.

"Major, that strap please?" Sam realized she must mean the strip of leather, and she obediently handed it to her. Jack knew what was coming, since he'd also been in this position once or twice before. He opened his mouth before she asked. "Thank you, Colonel. I take it you've done this before, too." Avea slipped the strip between his teeth and Jack nodded.

"Ommph omm immmf." (Translation: "Once or twice.") Avea smiled at him reassuringly.

"Everything is going to be fine. I promise."

Daniel nodded in agreement, and Avea continued. "Colonel, Sam is going to be monitoring your pulse and breathing, as well as helping me. I probably don't have to tell you this, but you need to trust her right now. If she gives you something to breathe through, don't be alarmed. Just take a couple of slow, deep breaths. Okay?"

Jack just nodded, curious about what his team knew that he didn't. He didn't push it, though, because he trusted each of them with his life. Literally.

"Good. Major, the curved one, please."

Sam looked down and found the curved knife, and then she handed it to Avea. Her stomach twisted as she imagined what her commanding officer was about to go through. She laid her hand on his chest, making sure she could feel his heartbeat, Daniel took hold of Jack's legs just above his knees, and Teal'c tightened his grip.

Sam kept her eyes on Jack, but Daniel and Teal'c watched as Avea made the first incision to widen the opening of the wound. When she did, Jack's stomach muscles tightened and he grimaced, but mostly muffled his grunt. He didn't put much pressure on either Teal'c or Daniel.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?"

Jack didn't bother to respond. Avea made another cut, then asked Sam for a damp cloth. Sam wet a cloth and wrung it out, handed it to Avea, and then returned her hand to its resting place on the Colonel's chest. Avea used it to soak up the blood that was seeping down Jack's side, then set it on the table next to him.

"Hang in there, sir. You're doing great." Sam noticed that he seemed to be getting a little warm, so she wet another, smaller cloth and wiped it over his face and neck.

He glared at her for the comment, but gave an "mmm" of thanks around the strap for the coolness, and Avea resumed cutting. She asked Sam for the spatula, and Sam obliged.

Curious, Daniel watched to see what its purpose was. He had to look away when he saw muscle being separated from bone, not only because it was more than he was prepared to handle, but also because Jack groaned and strained hard against him and Teal'c.

* * *

Cruel place to stop? :)


	8. Chapter 8

Jack let out a shout through his clenched teeth. _What the hell is she doing to me? It's not enough to slice and dice, she has to filet, too?_ His breathing was rapid and somewhat shallow.

Avea made her next few moves swiftly then paused so that Jack could catch his breath and calm down. Sam took a deep breath to calm her own nerves. She continued to cool his now glistening upper body, and Avea mouthed the word "calm" to her. She saw, and picked up yet another cloth, wet it, and wrung it out.

"Here, sir. Just breathe." Sam haphazardly folded the damp fabric and gently held it against his mouth and nose.

If it had been anyone else, Jack might have panicked at being forced to breathe a chemical. He trusted Sam completely though, and even though he would never admit it, her touch was very reassuring to him. Jack felt his breathing and heart become more regular. _What is that? It smells flowery._

Avea soaked up more blood. "How are you doing, Colonel?"

She wasn't being sarcastic, and while Jack normally would have made a smart remark, he just didn't have the strength to bother. Instead, when Sam removed the cloth, he mumbled a "gimme a minute" around the piece of leather in his mouth.

Avea nodded in sympathy while she put a little pressure on the wound, and Teal'c and Daniel both loosened their grips. Sam resumed patting the cold compress over his face, neck, and chest. Jack just focused on slowing his breathing and gathering what strength he had left.

About 30 seconds later, Avea broke the silence. "Better?"

Jack nodded slightly. "Yeah."

"Good. We need to continue. Major, it's time."

Sam nodded and passed the white cone-shaped device to Avea. Sam gave Teal'c and Daniel a look that said "trust me on this". Jack opened his eyes and looked up at Sam questioningly. As she unfastened her holster, Jack's curious expression became a little more demanding.

"Carter?" He managed to get the word out as he watched his second in command unload and replace the cartridge, then pass her gun over his chest.

"It's going to be fine, sir."

Avea suppressed a smile. _Even in this position, his team still responds to his authority._ Instead of commenting, she explained.

"Colonel, this is the part that's going to hurt the worst. I'm going to have to break one of your ribs in two different places."

_Damn. I gotta quit using that whole "couldn't get worse" mentality._ He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, signaling that he was ready. Sam continued to cool him off.

"I'm not going to pause between breaks. After that, it shouldn't take me long to reach the bullet. At that point you'll be able to relax since I'm finally going to 'knock you out'."

_Thank Thor._ Jack almost chuckled at his own mental humor.

Avea mopped up the blood that was starting to pool in the hole she'd created. Once she did, she deftly positioned the cone at an angle over one of Jack's exposed ribs. "Daniel, you may have to use all your weight."

She held the object in her right hand and took the gun by the barrel in her left. Sam put the cloth back over Jack's face with one hand and continued her previous task with the other.

"Ready, Colonel?" Jack nodded slightly, and Teal'c and Daniel retightened their grips.

Avea positioned the end of the cone like a chisel over one of Jack's exposed ribs. He grimaced a little at the contact. She took a couple of practice swings, similar to those a golfer often takes, and then there was a sickening _Crack!_ Jack shouted through clenched teeth, and Teal'c and Daniel actually both had to strain to hold him still. Avea quickly moved the tip of the cone a couple of inches, then a second crack resounded.

Daniel was almost lifted off the ground, but he managed to keep his friend restrained. Avea handed the cone and spatula-like object back to Sam and asked for the broad knife. Using it and the curved knife she still had, she quickly moved the severed section of bone out of the way and within 15 seconds, she had removed the bullet.

"There it is." She spoke mainly to Jack, then turned her attention to Sam. "Trade places with me. Soak up the blood." Jack was still straining hard as Sam and Avea walked briskly around the table. When Avea got to the shelf, she quickly transferred some of the yellow goop into the remaining pink liquid, then wet a cloth in it and gave it to Jack to breath. "Now, Colonel. Try to relax."

It didn't really matter what she said because Jack's mind was completely clouded by the screaming pain in his chest. The part he did hear was the gentle voice. He felt the coolness over his mouth and nose again, and he continued to breathe deeply. After a few seconds, Teal'c and Daniel felt him begin to relax. His arms and legs went limp, and Jack slipped gratefully into black painless bliss.

Avea removed the cloth from Jack's face and Teal'c and Daniel released him. _He looks so peaceful compared to a minute ago_, Sam thought as she looked at her unconscious CO.

"He'll probably be out for a while, now. Major, do you still have the healing device?"

Sam pulled it out of the large pocket she had put it in. "Go ahead and start. I'm going to start down here." Avea moved to the colonel's thigh.

Sam nodded and held the device over Jack's head as she had seen Kendra do, and once it started to glow she moved it to his chest wound. She focused carefully this time so that she didn't begin by making it worse, and it seemed to work. In the meantime, Avea had begun to chase the other bullet now that she could reach the shelf easily on her own.

"Is that wound as severe as the first?" Teal'c inquired about his friend, still concerned. Avea looked up from her work and smiled at him.

"No. The bullet missed the bone, so it's strictly a flesh wound. It won't be nearly as difficult to reach or take as long to heal."

Teal'c nodded, reassured.

Just like she predicted, it didn't take Avea very long to finish her new task. 2 minutes after she had started, she was finished. _It makes everything go so much faster when you don't have to sew anything up_, she thought as she pulled out the intrusive object.

Sam was still concentrating, but now had her eyes open watching what was happening. Daniel and Teal'c were still standing where they had been, just watching the two women and offering moral support. Softly so that she didn't disturb Sam, Avea addressed a question to them.

"Is he likely to want to be up and about before he's fully able?"

"Indeed."

"Yeah, that would be Jack."

Avea nodded, contemplating the situation. "All right. Thank you." She then fetched bandaging supplies from another hidden cubby. Teal'c and Daniel both wondered how many of those there actually were.

"Of what relevance is that information?"

"Colonel O'Neill has lost a lot of blood. What he needs most is to rest, but if he's going to be unwilling, I will not fully heal his leg wound until he is strong enough to be up and about." She then walked around the table to check on Sam's progress. There was a little improvement, but it was slow going.

Becoming aware that their small new ally was watching over her shoulder, Sam paused and turned her attention to Avea.

"Good, Major. Are you getting tired?" She knew from experience that using the device for extended periods of time could be draining, both mentally and physically.

"Not too much. I'd like to keep going."

Avea smiled. _She really cares for this man._ "Speak up when you feel like stopping." She touched Jack's chest, much like she had before, only this time she kept her hand very near the wound. "It feels like you've stopped the bleeding completely, so there's not any rush now. He won't wake up for a while, so don't strain yourself."

Sam started to protest, then realized that Avea was hinting that she would be more effective if she was at the top of her game. Not to mention the fact that Avea was also capable- and probably more so- of finishing the task. Sam nodded, but still wanted to keep going a little.

Avea told her to go ahead and stop the bleeding in his leg instead of continuing where she was. While Sam was doing that, Avea set the rib she had broken and, knowing that Sam would be drained by the time she finished, went ahead and started to loosely dress the wound.

Sam had almost stopped the bleeding from Jack's leg when she blinked a couple of times before letting out a sigh. "I think I need to stop now. I'm about to start doing more harm than good."

Avea finished fixing the bandage to Jack's chest, then walked around to take over for Sam.

"Nicely done, Major. Why don't you go rest and eat something? I'll finish here, and then I'll join you."

Sam nodded. She walked around the table to pick up her gun from where Avea had set it next to Jack, then proceeded to go out and sit by the fire. Daniel went with her, and Teal'c stayed to watch over his friend.

When they had gone, Avea asked Teal'c about Sam and Jack's relationship.

"Does Colonel O'Neill care as much for Major Carter as she cares for him?"

"Indeed. They work well together and have become very fond of each other."

Avea picked up where Sam had left off with the device. "Teal'c, I think you realize that's not what I mean."

Teal'c raised an eyebrow. "Anything beyond friendship is forbidden for them. Neither will ever admit any romantic feelings for the other."

"Why not? Surely each knows the other's heart."

"They cannot. Both serve their world first and themselves second. Such an admission would surely destroy their careers, as well as create many complications for their superiors."

Avea dropped her eyes in realization. These people were too selfless to acknowledge their own needs in certain areas. She put down the device and began to apply bandages.

"Are you not going to finish healing him?"

"I am, but not right now. It's dark outside by now, and I rose before the sun. In order to best help your colonel, I need to rest."

Teal'c didn't look thrilled with the idea that Jack was still not in great shape, but he understood Avea's point. He remained silent as she finished applying the bandage. When she was finished cleaning up all the tools she had used, Teal'c asked what her plan was for the night and offered to stay with Jack.

"Thank you, Teal'c. I will not be far away." She reached into the pocket of the cloak she was still wearing and pulled out an oblong piece of…something unidentifiable, but it had a button. "This device is similar to the communication devices I've seen your team using. If anything at all changes with him, press this button. Speak, and I will hear. When you release it, I can respond."

Teal'c gave one of his nods.

"Goodnight, Teal'c. I will return in the morning." With that, she vanished through the doorway toward Daniel and Sam. She told them goodnight, and then disappeared into the night.

* * *

As always, feedback is appreciated.


	9. Chapter 9

When they could no longer see Avea, Sam and Daniel looked at each other for a moment. Then Daniel asked the question (or one of the questions) that had been on their minds since they had first met her.

"So what do we think she actually is?"

"Well, she said she was 'Furia', whatever that is. Do you have any ideas who they might be?"

Daniel thought for a moment, but he had already been thinking about this very question for most of the day and didn't get any further now.

"Not really. I mean, the word sort of sounds like Furling, depending on what pronunciation or dialect you use. I don't think we've seen Furlings in Earth's history, just the Goa'uld and the Asgard. Maybe there's something we missed, though. What about you? Any 'female intuition'?"

"Not on that front." She took a bite of her MRE.

"On what front, then?"

"I don't know. I can't say for sure, but it still feels like she's hiding something."

"Do you think it makes her dangerous?" Now Daniel took a bite of his own MRE.

"I think if she was dangerous, we would know it by now. I mean, she did help me heal your arm, and she's doing what she can for Colonel O'Neill."

"So she says."

"Do you think she's lying?"

"No, but you're the one who thinks she's still hiding something. I'm just saying, after that hell she put Jack through today, he doesn't seem much better for it yet."

"She said she was tired, and I don't doubt that for a minute. It actually does take a pretty good amount of energy to use one of those devices for any amount of time, and who knows what she'd been doing before we got here. I think the important thing is going to be to see if she comes back in the morning."

Both continued to munch on their suppers, contemplating their new friend in order to keep their mind off of their injured one. After a few moments, Sam spoke again. "What about the markings on the tools she used? Did you see anything that looks familiar?"

"Well, that's the thing. The designs were pretty ornate, some of them even rivaling some of Earth's cultures' most intricate artwork. Some of it looked vaguely familiar, but I just can't place it." He paused. "By the way, you knew she was going to ask for your gun?"

"She told me after you guys had already gone in."

"And you didn't have a problem with giving it to her?"

"I unloaded it first," Sam exclaimed quietly around a mouthful of food.

Daniel still looked a little skeptical. She swallowed before continuing. "I was going to give you guys the heads up, but I didn't have a chance! I didn't want to make Colonel O'Neill panic, and we had pretty much already decided to trust her."

"We had?"

"We agreed to assist while she put the colonel through that 'hell'."

"Good point. I guess we had." Again they lapsed into a companionable silence while each finished eating.

After a few minutes, Sam announced that she was going to bed and would take second watch with Jack. Daniel agreed to third, and both of them spread out their sleeping bags after telling Teal'c goodnight.

"Hey Daniel, what do you think the locals will be like when we find them?"

"I have no idea. Probably not very advanced. Probably won't have any contact with the Goa'uld, or very little if they do. I don't know what to make of their weapons being so similar to ours. They might be really advanced. On the other hand, they seem pretty superstitious from the way Avea was talking."

"So there may or may not be bulldozers," Sam surmised.

"Huh?"

"To try and dig out the gate. Or what's left of it."

"Oh. Probably not, but maybe they'll be friendly enough to help us dig."

"Or they'll just kill us on sight if they think we had something to do with bombing it."

"What makes you say that?"

"It just that if they were so superstitious about Avea, what are they going to think of us? I mean, even if we are the same species as them, we're definitely different. They've never met anyone from Earth, and they are at war, remember."

"I guess we'll find out." By this time, both were situated and ready to go to sleep.

"I guess. 'Night."


	10. Chapter 10

Avea approached the opening to the cave, dressed in her light brown cloak again today. The sun was just beginning to turn the sky pink and orange. She cautiously approached, not wanting to startle her human friends, but also not wanting to wake the ones she was sure were asleep. She proceeded to the opening, then stopped.

"Good morning." She spoke softly, seeing that Teal'c and Sam seemed to be asleep. Teal'c opened his eyes and she smiled at him. He nodded back.

"Daniel is with the colonel?" she whispered.

"He is."

She set down the rather large basket she was carrying and walked into the back room.

"Good morning Daniel."

He looked up, startled. "Good morning. Welcome back."

She briskly walked over to Jack to check on his condition. "Has there been any change?"

"No. He hasn't so much as snored."

"Then he is resting well." She briefly touched the areas surrounding each of Jack's wounds, then touched his head to check for a fever. "He is doing well -no sign of any problems." She stopped and looked up at Daniel. "I brought breakfast for all of you. Come and eat."

Daniel rose from the ground. They both came back into the other room to find that Sam was also waking up.

"Good morning, Major. How did you sleep?"

"Like a rock. What smells so good?"

"I saw what you were eating last night. Those bars looked terrible, so I brought you all some real food. Please, help yourselves."

Teal'c reached into the basket Avea had set down earlier. "Have you eaten yet?" he asked as he rummaged around in the basket.

"No, I thought I would wait and join you."

He pulled out several steaming items, passing them out as he did so. No one but Avea knew what they were yet because they were wrapped in large leaves. As Sam and Daniel curiously unwrapped what they'd been handed, she explained that they each contained a sort of fish stir fry, prepared her favorite way (though she didn't refer to it as stir fry). Teal'c continued to dig and extracted some obscure fruits and a large ceramic pitcher containing some kind of drink.

"These fruits are from the kaliwa vine. They have just come into season, and the tea is from pilai leaves."

By this time, Teal'c had also found some cups and flatware (which, amusingly to Sam, bore a strong resemblance to the "spork" of Earth). Avea poured the tea, which though it wasn't exactly cold, was not hot either. Daniel was the first to try the tea, and he made a funny face as he swallowed it. "I realize you might find it somewhat bitter, but it is good for you, and eventually you learn to like it."

"Kind of like coffee, except that coffee isn't actually good for you."

Sam laughed a little at Daniel's analysis of his favorite drink, and Avea pulled out some honey and handed it to him. He thanked her, then passed it around. They were all just now trying the stir fry.

"Mmmm. This is really good! What did you say was in it?"

"Various fruits and vegetables, along with some boiled fish. On its own, it's actually rather bland, but there are some wonderful spices I've found in these woods, and some of the greens are more for flavor than actual nutritional value."

They all ate in silence for a few moments, then Daniel broke the silence.

"So, how long have you actually been here on this particular planet?"

"A little more than five years."

"You probably know the people fairly well then."

"I interact with them as little as possible. They need me but do not trust me, and I tolerate their fear of me in exchange for the right to live here."

Sam picked up on the questions. "Can you tell us how advanced they are?"

"They are significantly more advanced than many groups I have met, but from what I know of Earth, you are still very far ahead of them." Avea quickly shut her mouth. _I hope I didn't just say too much._

"How do you know about Earth?"

"Through my travels, I have become friends with some of the same people you have." She tried to remain as vague as possible.

"Who?"

"Why do you need to know?" Avea tried hard to cover her slip-up.

SG:1 looked at each other.

"If you want to come back with us, we need to know that you're not hiding anything that could be dangerous to Earth," Sam said pointedly.

Avea knew she was beaten. _What harm will it do? They know the same people._

"I spent a couple of years with the Nox before coming here."

Sam, Teal'c, and Daniel all looked somewhat surprised by this revelation.

"The Nox?" Daniel asked.

"Yes. They were one of the last groups I spent time with before this planet."

"And they told you about us?" Sam prompted.

"Some, yes. I know that you are still very young, but I also know that you have advanced to the point that you do not necessarily fear the unfamiliar simply because it is unfamiliar. That is why I approached you."

"How long were you with them?"

"A little less than a year. They taught me many things. They adopted me almost as one of their own."

"Then why did you leave?" Sam asked.

"I become restless easily."

"Did you not say you have been on this planet for five years?" Teal'c pointed out.

"I have. I felt needed here, and that is why I've stayed. I have some privacy and I can do some good while I learn."

"That explains why you've been here so long, but not why you left the Nox," Sam pointed out. "There must be more to it than restlessness," she pried.

Avea was quiet for a moment while she chose her response carefully. "The Nox mean well," she finally answered. All three members of SG:1 straightened a little bit at her negative tone, and she explained. "The non-violence that they believe in so strongly blinds them to reality. There is wisdom in peace, certainly, but they are so advanced that they cannot comprehend the suffering that still exists in the rest of the universe."

"You oppose the Nox, then?"

"We did not part on hostile terms, if that's what you mean. I simply could not stay with them in their self-contained safety sphere, knowing first-hand the suffering that exists at the hands of the Goa'uld and doing nothing to stop it."

There was a momentary silence as no one quite knew what to say next, so the only sound was chewing.

Finally Avea broke the awkardness. "I need to check on Colonel O'Neill, if you'll excuse me. He should be waking up soon." With that, she rose, set down what she had been holding, and went into the other room.

When she got there, Jack still seemed to be asleep, so Avea didn't wake him. Instead, she removed the bandage on his leg and redressed it with some kind of cream and a new bandage. When that was done, she walked around to his other side and removed the bandage from over his chest wound. Picking up the healing device from where she had left it the night before, she resumed where Sam had left off earlier.

After a few minutes, Jack groaned and rubbed his left hand over his face.

"Good morning, Colonel." The device in Avea's hand stopped glowing as she greeted him with a smile.

"Wha…" Realization dawned on Jack as he remembered the previous day's events. "Oh, you," he muttered. "Hi."

"Are you hungry?"

"Yeah. What time is it?"

"Major, would you please bring the colonel some breakfast?" She spoke into the other room, then turned her attention back to Jack.

"The sun has only just risen. How do you feel?"

"Like I've been hit by a bus. A small bus, maybe. I've been hit with bigger buses."

Sam walked in with a wrap and a cup of honeyed tea just in time to hear his description, and it made her laugh.

"Morning, Carter."

"Good morning, sir. Avea brought us breakfast. I highly recommend the fish and veggies."

He struggled to sit up. Sam set down what she carried on the shelf that was still protruding from the side of the table in order to help him, and Avea replaced the bandage so that he could eat in peace.

"Health nut. Say, is there any way I could get down?"

Sam and Jack both looked at Avea.

"I'm not sure that's wise, Colonel."

"Aww, come on! Have a little heart! I don't like it up here." He gave Sam his best puppy dog eyes.

Avea relented with a sympathetic smile. "If you want down that badly, I guess it won't hurt anything for you to sit on the floor and lean back." She touched the table to indicate that she meant for him to use its side as a backrest.

Jack's face lit up like a little kid's, and Sam suppressed a grin at his exaggeration. She went to his left when Avea went to his right..

"Colonel, be careful and don't put any weight at all on your left leg," Avea reminded him as he edged off the table. Sam and Avea caught him before he fell (he didn't realize just how weak yesterday's events had left him), and together they lowered him to the floor. He sat with his injured leg straight out and the other bent. "Comfortable?" He shrugged and nodded, and Sam handed him breakfast. He sniffed it, and then dug in hungrily.

"So how am I doing?" Jack asked between bites.

"I'm glad to see you have a good appetite. You should be good as new in a few days."

"A few days. Really."

"Your injuries would normally take weeks to heal on their own, but since I'll be here to help, it won't take nearly as long."

"Hear that Carter? We've found our own personal good luck charm. And she's not too bad in the kitchen! How 'bout that?"

"Yes sir," was all Sam could say. She was used to Jack's flippant attitude, but she still wasn't quite sure how to respond sometimes.

"What's in this stir fry anyway?"

Avea furrowed her brow, not quite sure what 'stir fry' was, but assumed he meant the fish. "Greens and spices."

"Hmm. It's actually good. Remind me to talk to General Hammond about including 'spices' with ration packs."

Sam smiled, glad to see her CO back in good spirits. "Actually, sir, Avea may get to talk to him herself. Our 'good luck charm' wants to come with us."

Jack paused and, for the first time, sized up their new friend. He started at the floor, quickly taking in her seemingly tiny frame under the cloak. _For someone so small, she sure was strong. I bet she packs one hell of a punch._ His eyes then explored her delicate-looking face, purple skin, long hair, and finally her pointed ears.

This made Avea slightly uncomfortable. _At least I was discreet about it when I looked him over._

Jack finally shifted his gaze to Sam with an expression that clearly said "What do you think?" In response, Sam nodded discreetly, telling him that she saw no reason not to take her home with them. _Sam trusts her. That's good enough._

"Welcome home, Spock-ette."

Avea looked to Sam for an interpretation, and Sam smiled affirmatively at her.

"Speaking of home, sir, do you remember what happened after you were shot?"

"I remember some rather severe pain. Pounding head, screaming in my chest, lots of blood, that kind of thing."

"Sir, the Stargate was bombed. We're stranded here."

"Carter, I thought the Stargates were too tough for a bomb to take out."

"I don't know if the gate was actually destroyed or not, but either way it was at least buried, and there's no way to tell how long it could take to dig it out, assuming it _is_ still in one piece." She paused to let it sink in. "And it was a really big bomb," she added, shrugging apologetically.

Jack leaned his head back against the table's side. "So we're stranded here."


	11. Chapter 11

Avea had an indefinite break. SG:1 had finished eating breakfast about 2 hours ago, and she had intermittently been healing Jack and talking to the team. Since the wound was pretty severe, she would spend about 15 minutes at a time working at that and about the same amount of time talking. A few minutes ago, Jack had asked to rest undisturbed for a while, so she had little to do besides wait.

The rest of the team had learned that she was from a fairly large family (though she still would say no more about her people), and at the moment Teal'c and Daniel were outside while Sam was inquiring about her apparent ability to x-ray with her hands.

"Why did you tell the colonel that he would feel heat coming from your hands?"

"I have the ability to generate very low-level energy pulses from my palms, as well as increased sensory receptors in my fingertips. When I was checking him for any more injuries, I was not only feeling for the usual indications of heat and swelling, but also for any places where the magnetic energy I created did not return to my fingertips as uniformly as it should."

"Does that also work on inanimate objects?"

"Some. I can find cracks in structures and feel certain energy emissions, but I can't necessarily tell you what is behind a wall if that's what you mean. I am also very sensitive to temperature adjustments."

"What about the way you helped him breathe easier when you first came in?"

"When I focus carefully, I can actually direct the energy from my hands very specifically, even to the microscopic level."

Sam frowned. "I'm afraid I don't quite follow you."

"Human muscles contract and relax according to the electric firing between specific synapses." Realization started to dawn on Sam's face. "I can direct electricity to those synapses through skin-on-skin contact, and as a result I can control certain muscular functions. Since human lungs operate on negative pressure induced by muscular contractions, I can control a human's breathing rate."

Sam closed her mouth after realizing her jaw had dropped. "That's amazing! Does it also work on other things? Like, for instance, could you make someone's heart beat faster or slower?"

"I could, but it would not be wise. The human body is too delicate to tamper with something as carefully regulated as the heart."

Sam's eyes widened further at her next thought. "Wait. What about the opposite?" Avea looked at her confusedly. "You can help someone breathe. You can regulate a heartbeat. Can you make someone _stop_ breathing, or stop a heart?"

Avea didn't respond immediately. She had not really considered those options before, but she realized the military implications that could result from her answers to this soldier-scientist's question.

"Breathing, I suppose I could stop. The heart, however, would require a much stronger level of energy than I have ever channeled through my hands. I don't know if it would be possible, but I doubt it."

Sam and Avea continued their science-laden discussion while Teal'c and Daniel talked outside. Actually, it was really more of Daniel talking and Teal'c listening, since Avea had loaned some of her things to Daniel to look at the artwork on them.

"This is really amazing! I mean, if she did all this herself, it probably took her at least 2 years. And that's just for the things that are right here in front of us! Who knows what else she has stashed wherever it is that she lives! Do you see how ornate these cups are?" The cups he was talking about were the ones from breakfast. They fit easily into the hand and seemed to be made out of some sort of white stone –though neither bone nor ivory.

Daniel thought it might be quartz, as it seemed to have a slight sparkle to it. The designs in not only these but also the bowls, knives, and other miscellany from the day before mainly consisted of spirals and seemingly meaningless symbols, lines, and curves which covered the whole outside surface of the things he was inspecting.

"It is unlike anything I have seen," Teal'c said when Daniel stopped to take a breath.

"I wonder what kind of tools she used for this. It seems so smooth, and surely a chisel would have left tool-marks. Laser, maybe? It's awfully delicate."

After a few more minutes of musing, Avea came outside and startled Daniel out of his deep thought. Teal'c just watched her, and though the casual observer would never know it, he was rather amused when Daniel jumped almost a foot.

"Daniel, I wonder if I may have a word with you."

"Yeah, sure. What's up?"

"Walk with me."

Teal'c spoke up with a hint of concern in his voice. "DanielJackson."

"It's fine, Teal'c."

Teal'c did not feel reassured, but he let it go. This alien had been nothing but help since they met her and Daniel had been alone with her before with no apparent danger. He sat back down.

Daniel and Avea began walking deeper into the woods, toward the stream. After they had walked for a minute or two, Daniel finally broke the silence.

"So are you going to tell me what this is about?"

"Do you have a family, Daniel?"

He was a little surprised by the question, and he hesitated before answering.

"I used to. My wife was taken as a host to a goa'uld, like you."

"Is she dead to you, then?" The vulnerable tone in Avea's suddenly soft voice got Daniel's attention.

_She wants to know if we're going to judge her for having been a host._ "Actually, she's dead to everyone. She was killed."

"I'm sorry for your loss."

"Why do you ask?"

"I haven't spoken to any others of my people, let alone my family, in 26 years. It seems strange to me that my supposedly advanced race can act so harshly and yet the young Tau'ri do not judge on such a basis."

"It is strange." They paused with an awkwardness that only Daniel felt, because he had no idea what to say or what she was getting at.

Avea finally changed the subject to one she knew he would be interested in. "Tell me, Daniel. What questions do you have about the things I let you see?"

_Enough to walk all afternoon, evening, and into next week. But I wonder which ones you're actually going to be willing to answer, _he thought.

By now they had reached the creek, and Avea gestured that she meant for them to continue across it. While Daniel was tall enough that he could just straddle it, Avea was clearly going to have to leap. Her cloak hindered her, Daniel noticed.

"May I?" He held out his hands, indicating that he meant to lift her across. She accepted tentatively, and Daniel placed one hand on each side of her waist. _She really is tiny._ She rested her hands on his forearms, and he lifted her as easily as a child and set her down on the other side.

"Thank you. Where were we?" They resumed walking.

"You offered to answer some questions."

She nodded.

"What tools did you use to make those designs I saw?"

Avea smiled. "Again, you are not capable of pronouncing it. It is similar to a chisel or a knife, but only my sub-race of Furia are capable of using it."

"Why?"

She then gave Daniel the briefest of summaries of what she had told Sam about herself. The point was that the tiny energy waves softened that particular rock into something she could carve.

"That's interesting." He looked around, now somewhat disoriented since he could only barely hear the water running anymore. "Ah, where are we going?"

"I want to show you some things, but first I need to pick something up."

"From where?"

"You'll see," she grinned.

"Okay. Um, where did you learn all about human physiology, if I might ask?"

"In my early travels, I learned a great deal simply by trial and error. My people taught me several things that have turned out to be similar between my species and yours, and the Nox taught me a great many things about medicines and nature."

"So did your people ever actually have any contact with Earth?"

Avea chuckled softly. "You will not give up on that, will you?"

"My friends and I are pretty curious people."

"True, you are both pretty and curious."

Daniel looked at her to try and figure out what she meant by that, but she moved on quickly.

"Soon enough, I'll quench your curiosity about a few things, and that is one of them. But not now." She stopped, and Daniel followed suit. "Here we are."

Daniel looked around. "Where is 'here'?"

"My hiding spot." She bent down and pulled aside some branches of a bush that was nearly as tall as she was, and underneath there was a small basket. Daniel strained to see what was in it, and she tilted it so that he could see inside.

"It's empty."

She smiled. "Yes it is. That's because this is what I use to gather the plants I'm always using. I wanted you to come with me, so you can see some of what I do when there's nothing else pressing going on."

"Cool."

They walked for a few moments, stopping here and there to see a plant or pick one. As Avea pointed each specimen out to Daniel, she explained to him its purpose and what parts and methods she used. Daniel would ask questions every now and then, but mostly he was just absorbing what she told him and enjoying her company and the outdoors. Soon the basket was full and they made their way back to its hiding place.

"Here we are again."

"Are we picking up another basket?" Daniel wondered why they were back where they started. _There's nothing else here._

"No, Daniel. Look up."

He did, and he couldn't believe what he saw. Nestled about 40 feet off the ground, there was a medium-sized structure.

"Is that a…treehouse?"

She smiled. "Yes, it is. This is where I live. I guess you could call it my 'headquarters'."

"Why do I get the feeling you don't show many people this?"

"Because you are very intuitive where people are concerned. I have never brought anyone here until now." She paused for a brief moment, then asked shyly, "Would you like to see it?"


	12. Chapter 12

"Very much. But how do we get up there?"

"Do you trust me yet?"

Daniel wasn't quite sure how to answer that, so he decided honesty was the best policy.

"I guess so; otherwise I wouldn't be out here with you."

She smiled. "Good. Close your eyes, and don't open them until I tell you."

A slightly confused or apprehensive expression crossed his face briefly, but Avea couldn't tell which it was. He finally obeyed, closing his eyes.

"No peeking."

Daniel waited for what seemed like an eternity, but really was only about 45 seconds. "Now?"

"Not quite." She responded from somewhere above him, and he was very tempted to look up and see exactly where. He didn't want to break the trust she had vested in him, though, so he didn't.

"How about now?"

He didn't hear anything for a couple of seconds, and he started to get worried.

"Alright. Now."

He looked up to see her head poking out from the doorway of the house, and he watched as she dropped a bundle of sticks down toward him. The bundle unwound as it fell, and it turned out to be a rope ladder. The last rung hung about a foot off the ground.

"Come on up!" Her voice sounded a little distant, _but then, she is 40 feet off the ground._ He took hold of the ladder and started to climb.

It didn't take Daniel long to scale the ladder, but he did get a little nervous when he was nearing the top. _Don't look down,_ he kept reminding himself. Finally he reached the doorway, and he grabbed the door frame to pull up against when he ran out of rungs. Avea helped him up, and he looked around in awe of what he saw.

There appeared to be two rooms. The one he had entered through seemed like a kitchen. There was a small stone fireplace in the center of the room, and apparently a plate in the ceiling that could be opened to let out the smoke. There was a wire shelf above the fireplace, and on it rested a medium sized pot. Daniel looked around and quickly saw where it had come from. The back wall held a small assortment of pots and pans, and the pot over the fire had an empty spot in the middle. A table (which now held the basket Avea had been carrying) stood against the wall to their left with several hooks and a couple of shelves above it. Various plants and flowers hung from the hooks in various stages of wilted and drying, and the shelves held a few cups, plates, bowls, and the like, all apparently empty from what Daniel could see.

The other wall was full of more shelves. An assortment of more containers, mostly bowls, decorated these as well. However, these all seemed to have something in them. Daniel didn't recognize very much of it, but it looked very much like the bowls of spices on the cooking shows, where everything was already measured out. There were probably 25 total containers on that wall alone, each with a different substance in it. Daniel's eyes wandered back to the table and its chair, which had a few drawers built into the base that would normally just be the space between the legs. _Everything here is as ornate as the things back at the cave, and functional too! This is incredible!_

"What is all this?"

"You might call it the local pharmacy. Not everything has a medical purpose, though. Some of these" she gestured to the wall of shelves "are spices, and some of the plants you see drying are just for decoration."

Avea took a moment to show him a few of the substances and tell him each one's purpose before they went into the other room through a beautifully colored curtain of pinks, purples, and blues. Once they found themselves on the other side, Daniel saw a bed, what appeared to be a desk but really resembled a TV tray, and a very low cabinet with very ornate wooden doors. On top of that rested a vase with some lovely exotic white flowers.

Daniel walked over and ran his fingers across the doors. "Did you do all of this yourself?"

She nodded.

"This is amazing. How long did all of these decorations take you?"

"I worked on it off and on for about 3 years. Some days I wouldn't do anything to it, some days I would carve for an hour or two, and every now and then I spent all day working. Sometimes I still add a little bit here and there."

"What do you use?"

Avea walked over to the cabinet and he moved back to give her room. When she opened the doors, Daniel saw what looked like 3 shelves deep of nothing but tools. There were various knives, needles, paints, and several unidentifiable objects. Clearly some of these were medical and some were artistic.

The really amazing part, though, was that there were not actually any shelves. The objects seemed to be resting on thin air. Avea noticed Daniel's shocked expression, and she almost laughed.

"The shelves are really just force shields. I have them set to very low power, so they won't hurt you if you touch them. Go ahead."

Daniel reached out his hand to wave it through the invisible shelf, but when he touched it, it stopped his hand and turned electric blue for a second. She was right in that it didn't hurt, but it did tingle just a little. Daniel jumped slightly.

Avea reached past him and picked up a cylinder of about 5 inches long and an inch-and-a-half diameter. Strangely, though, it was only circular and ornate on one end. The other end was square and smooth. "This is the hammer part I was missing yesterday at the cave. I left it here the day before because I was planning to do some more carving."

They spent the next half hour with Avea explaining tools, among other things, to Daniel as he asked questions or studied whatever she was speaking about. Finally, he noticed another curtain on the wall opposite of the cabinet.

"What's behind that?"

_Should I tell him?_ Avea looked a little uneasy, and Daniel noticed.

"I'm sorry. It's probably none of my business, and I shouldn't have asked."

She shook her head. "No, that's alright. You and your team are going to find out sooner or later." She rose gracefully from where she had been sitting next to Daniel on the bed and walked over to the curtain. She pulled it back to reveal a rod with a few different things hanging from it. Some were pastel, and others were very bright. "This is my closet. This cloak is really just something I wear over my preferred clothing, much like you wear your jacket."

"Do you always wear it?"

"Only when I am dealing with people who would be upset by what I really am."

Daniel chose his next words carefully. "Do you still believe I would be upset?"

She studied his face for a moment as she tried to decide what to do. _He has not judged me even though he knows I am different. He has been many places and seen many things, so surely he won't be afraid or angry. But he hasn't seen anyone like me before, I'm sure. What if he doesn't take me seriously anymore? And what about the rest of the Tau'ri team? They are not as accepting as Daniel. …Still, if he is on my side, they'll be more likely to accept me despite what I am. They're going to find out anyway eventually, and I might not get a chance to be with Daniel again before their people rescue them. I guess now is as good a time as any._

These thoughts went through her head in a matter of seconds. All the while, she was searching Daniel's eyes for something –she wasn't quite sure what – and he did not flinch under her gaze. Instead he looked back at her almost as intensely as she was looking at him.

"No, I don't."

He cocked his head ever-so-slightly. She pursed her lips, then asked him to turn around for a minute. He obliged, and while his back was turned she pulled her long brown cloak over her head. Daniel waited patiently, and finally she told him to turn back around. What he saw was a petite athletic figure with some curves. He quickly took in her low-cut light blue halter top and long flowing royal blue skirt. There were some designs woven into the fabric, but nothing too extensive.

Just as he was about to ask what she had thought would upset him, he noticed something. She stood with her arms crossed in front of her, and Daniel saw her arching her back a little bit. As she did, something began to become visible behind her shoulders. To his amazement, a lovely set of petal-shaped wings began to unroll themselves. Before that was quite finished, two more sets unrolled, one above the first set and the other below, about halfway down her back, followed by two more consecutively smaller sets, each below the other with the last set being long and thin, hanging from her lower back to just below her knees. The color of her wings was the same as the rest of her skin: soft lavender.


	13. Chapter 13

Daniel's mouth hung open for a few moments while he tried to gather his thoughts again. Wings were the furthest thing from what he had expected, but now several things made more sense. Avea's soft voice interrupted his scattered thoughts.

"Daniel, please say something."

"Wow."

"I meant something a little more coherent."

"Ah, okay…wings. Wow. Beautiful."

Avea's purple cheeks turned a little bit pink.

"Your people have been to Earth, haven't they?"

"Yes."

"It all makes so much more sense now! I can't believe we didn't see it before."

Though she was flattered to have thrown Daniel for such a loop, his rambling was making her a little uneasy. She let him continue briefly anyway.

"That's why all this looked so familiar! I never even thought…"

She approached him and put a long finger over his lips, and when she did he promptly shut up. "You aren't…angry?"

She removed her finger, almost afraid of his answer. She had always been mistrusted because of her differences; never complimented by someone of a different race.

"Why would I be angry?" Daniel asked, then suddenly looked at his watch. _Wow. We've been gone for an hour and a half!_ "We should probably be getting back. Sam and Teal'c are going to start wondering where we are."

She nodded hesitantly in agreement.

"And Colonel O'Neill could wake up any time, and I should be there to tend to him."

Daniel noticed her apprehension. "Avea, they won't care. I promise."

She barely acknowledged his assurance as she began to pick up a couple of random tools and substances from around the treehouse. When she finally moved toward her cloak, he walked over to her and cupped her chin in his hand. He gently lifted her face so that she was looking him in the eyes.

"They won't be afraid, or angry, or upset. I know they won't because I've worked with them for several years now." Daniel saw that she still didn't look quite convinced, so he continued. "We've trusted you, and now it's time for you to trust us."

She held his gaze briefly, then nodded slightly as she dropped her eyes. _Such strong hands…hmm._

"You should go down first so that I can raise the ladder."

He obliged, and once he was down on the ground looking up, she gracefully jumped out into the air while holding the aforementioned items in her arms. Her wings beat quickly and in a sort of wave motion from the middle outward, and she came down and landed next to Daniel. She set her things down, then rolled the ladder and replaced it inside the house.

Finally she landed beside Daniel, and he offered to help carry some of the stuff. As they walked back, they chatted mostly about Avea's people and heritage. When they crossed the creek this time, though, she didn't need Daniel's help.

Eventually, they arrived back at the cave, and Avea lagged behind Daniel a little, almost hiding. Sam was sitting outside fiddling with a stick for no apparent reason, and Teal'c was apparently inside.

"Welcome back. You guys were gone for a while."

Daniel cleared his throat to indicate to Sam that something was up, and she looked up attentively. After a second, it hit her that the alien looked a little different from before.

"...You changed clothes?"

Avea raised her drooping wings a little bit. When she did, Sam inhaled sharply. Her eyebrows shot up, but it wasn't a bad kind of surprise.

"Wow." The major blinked for a moment, then grinned. "That's…amazing."

There was a brief awkward silence, and then Avea announced that she needed to check on Jack. When she had gone, Sam lowered her voice to speak to Daniel.

"I thought Colonel O'Neill was kidding when he called her our good luck charm."

"Well I guess he was closer to the truth than he realized. Faeries have been considered lucky or unlucky in lots of cultures through the centuries. It only makes sense that they would be as real as the other mythological beings." Daniel paused, and Sam grinned at him.

"You know, it's kind of funny. Every kid wants a fairy godmother, and we found one."

"Sort of. We're not exactly Cinderella."

"Says who? We've got everything it takes. We've got the evil step-family in Washington, and we are looking for a prince of a weapon." They looked at each other like 'that train of thought just went _way_ too far,' then laughed and headed inside to see Jack's reaction.

* * *

Colonel O'Neill was just waking up when he heard someone whisper his name to see if he was awake.

"Hmm?"

"I thought so. How are you feeling?"

"Groggy." There was a pause while he sat up. "Oh. You mean that. Doesn't hurt like it did, but not exactly the most relaxing sensation. My leg hurts worse than my chest."

"I can give you something for the pain, but your friends tell me that you would try to be up and about before you're ready and I cannot allow that." As Avea spoke, she poured him some of the tea from breakfast that morning and added a little powder to it.

"So…does that mean I'm on my own?"

"So, drink this and then I can get back to work on your chest wound. When you're strong enough to be up,_ then_ I will help heal your leg."

She handed him the cup.

"And I thought Doc Frasier was bad." He took a sip of tea as he finally noticed the lack of cloak. "Nice threads." She stirred her wings, and Jack didn't miss a beat. "Nice wings."

About this time, Sam and Daniel appeared in the doorway unnoticed by Avea. While she and Jack were talking, Sam was taking the opportunity to get a better look at the strange appendages while Avea had her back to them. Each wing seemed to have anywhere from one to three 'support beams', for lack of a better term, running through it lengthwise. These appeared to be branches off of her spine, and they seemed as flexible as a cat's tail and about as delicate. The tissue that made up Avea's wings looked very muscular and smooth. It also looked like they could stretch to significant widths. _Man, Janet's gonna love this._

Meanwhile, Jack and Avea were still talking and Jack was drinking what Avea had given him.

"You don't seem very surprised."

"I've been beamed up, downloaded, cloned, and God knows what else, and you think a little something like wings is gonna shock me? Actually, the term 'spiffy' comes to mind."

Avea beamed, and Daniel took note of some things. _Her wings must be a sort of subconscious expression of her emotions. She just relaxed, and her wings…rustled like she had been tensing them accidentally. Kind of like when you hold your breath without realizing it…hmm._

Jack finally finished his tea, and Avea had him lay back down. She retrieved the Goa'uld device from the shelf where she had left it, and then resumed her position of standing over him.

Sam whispered something to Daniel about a long-range communications modification to one of their walkie-talkies and the two of them went back out.


	14. Chapter 14

Sam was studying the disassembled components of her walkie-talkie. She had had a brilliant (if some-what far-fetched) idea on how to make a long-range communication device. It involved a slight reassembly of the pieces, along with some serious modifications, additions, and a significant power boost.

While she contemplated the possibilities, Daniel was telling her about some of the more impressive aspects of Avea's home. "And all this stuff was resting on force-shield shelves! It was unlike anything I've seen. And the bowls and bowls of everything! There are so many substances there, it could take years to-"

Sam interrupted him when an idea struck her. "Force shields? As in, made up of energy and probably has a nice power source?"

Daniel blinked in surprise. "I would assume so."

That sparkle came into Sam's eyes that indicated the scientific side of her brain was operating at 190 miles per hour. "That's great! I bet I could use that to replace the battery, which would solve our biggest problem here- I can MacGyver something for the rest of the re-build, but that one almost had me stumped. I'm glad you said that. Now, if I can go ahead and assemble the rest of this…we're going to need something to direct the frequency and something to bypass this connection here…"

She continued with her overly enthusiastic techno-babble, and Daniel realized it would be pointless to try to tell her anything else at this point, so he just watched and listened wondering how in the world she was going to convert this 2-mile range plaything into something that could broadcast to outer space.

* * *

Jack had fallen asleep accidentally, and Avea was taking a brief break. After all, it was almost lunchtime, and all this hard work gave her an appetite.

She called Teal'c into the room. His reaction to her revealed self earlier was about what she had come to expect from the Stoic One: he had simply raised an eyebrow and maintained his silence.

"Do you require assistance?"

"No, thank you. I just wondered if you're hungry, and if you might check with Daniel and Major Carter to see if they are. I am almost finished here, and personally I've worked up an appetite."

"I doubt that Major Carter will wish to leave her project. I am prepared for lunch, and it is likely that Daniel Jackson will be as well. Did you have something in mind?"

"Well, I think there was enough food left over from breakfast to also be lunch."

Teal'c nodded and left to go check with his friends. He was right about Sam not wanting to leave her project, but she saw the opportunity to talk with Avea about the technological possibilities and she was actually starting to get hungry. Soon enough, they were all seated around the now low-burning campfire in the first cavern of the cave munching on the morning's leftovers.

"Major, what is it exactly that you've been working on?" Avea asked between bites.

"Well, it's actually just a modification to something we already have. I'm hoping that I can convert the transmitter in my 2-way radio into a long-range broadcasting signal, and—theoretically- I should be able to modify the receiver to be able to handle much stronger signals, so we can hear things being broadcast from space."

"Impressive. How is it going so far?"

"I'm having a little trouble coming up with some of the extra pieces I need. There's not enough wire in the unit itself to connect to everything I need it to, and for that matter, I don't even have everything I need yet." She paused for a moment to take another bite. "Actually, I was kind of hoping you might be able to help."

"What is it that you need?"

Sam then proceeded to list and explain several things Daniel and Teal'c were unfamiliar with, but they knew this was exactly the language engineer-Sam spoke, and apparently Avea understood every word. A power source was the first thing on Sam's list, and it was followed by some random things like various connector wires, some type of "plate", and a few other things. When Sam finally stopped, Avea pondered briefly before answering.

"I think I can help you, especially with the power source. The energy used to provide light in the interior cavern comes from a device plenty strong enough for you, and I believe I can find some sort of conductor you can use. The rest may take some thinking." They continued eating in silence for a few minutes before Avea spoke again. "Out of curiosity, why are you trying to build this?"

Sam started to answer, then shut her mouth. The SGC knew what planet they had come to, and they almost definitely would realize that they were stranded. After a moment of tense silence, Teal'c answered.

"If we can communicate to the Tau'ri that we are indeed still alive, we may convince them that they do indeed need to come to our rescue. We may also be able to learn when we should expect a ship."

Sam looked a little surprised, and Daniel was wearing an expression that said "yeah, what he said." Avea smiled and nodded as she finished eating.

"If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go finish with Jack, and then, Major Carter, I will come help you in any way I can." She then bowed politely and exited to the back.

* * *

Sam stepped back to admire her work. The immense contraption that sat between her and Avea resembled something from an 80's 'alien invasion' movie, but it should be functional enough. Avea's not-so-small power source was sitting on a small boulder, and it had several wires running between it and another similarly-sized apparatus that also was seated on a large rock. This one, however, consisted of a tangle of wires and something that resembled a rather large satellite dish.

Coming from this half of the contraption were four additional wires that connected to the original, if somewhat open, handheld walkie-talkie. Occasionally, it would pick up on some static or a few jumbled words from some passing transmission, but so far there had been nothing interesting beyond the fact that it actually worked. Sam had called to Daniel, who was sitting inside, and he came out to see their impressive feat. After looking at it for a moment, he asked an obvious question.

"So, what now?"

Sam blinked.

"Well, apparently the signal has to pass fairly close to this receiver for us to be able to hear it, so the reverse is also probably true. If we were to just start talking, there's no telling who might pick us up, or if anyone would, for that matter. I think the best idea is to try to aim it at Earth and hope someone is coming from that direction. That way, even if they aren't, the signal will hopefully reach the SGC in a few hours, or maybe a day or two depending on how far away we actually are."

"Do we know which way Earth is?"

"Not yet, but hopefully tonight the stars will be out and I'll be able to exactly calculate the best time and direction to try to get a signal back to the SGC."

"So we've got a couple of hours."

Sam shrugged. "Yeah."

"Well, this is just a thought, but maybe we could go try to find the local people. If they aren't too far, we should have time."

Finally Avea spoke to answer him. "That would not be wise. The people are not likely to receive you well."

"Why is that?"

"They are not a trusting group, and they may believe that you are responsible for the destruction of the Stargate, as you call it, if they learn of your presence."

"There's an idea, then," Sam said. "We should really go see if the gate is still in one piece. That's only about a 15 minute walk from here."

"I'd kind of like to stay here with Jack and Avea," Daniel interjected, and Avea raised an eyebrow at the fact that apparently she was expected to stay here.

"Works for me." With that, Sam headed inside to retrieve Teal'c, and when they came back out, Sam reached into one of the pockets on her vest and pulled out a pocketknife. Daniel immediately knew its purpose, and he explained to Avea as he took the knife from Sam.

"Jack gets bored very easily, so he won't be such a pain in the neck if we give him something to whittle."

Avea laughed, and Sam and Teal'c headed off in the direction of the previous day's firefight.

When they were gone, Daniel turned to Avea. "You never answered one of my questions."

She tilted her head a little, and raised an eyebrow. "Which one?"

"When you asked if I had a family, I asked why you wanted to know. You never told me."

Avea's cheeks turned a slightly pinker shade of purple. "I was curious."

"Then why are you blushing, if that's all it was?"

_He already knows; he just wants me to say it. Humans can be so frustrating some times._ She spit her answer out so fast that it was almost unintelligible. "I-was-curious-about-whether-or-not-you-have-a-woman-of-your-own."

Daniel smiled to himself, then took a couple of steps toward Avea so that the two were standing closer than usual. "Not currently, I don't."

He cupped her chin again like he had in the treehouse. They stood like that for several seconds, and somewhere in the back of both their minds it registered that if anyone was to look at them right now, they would be greeted with a strange sight indeed. A relatively tall human man apparently about to kiss a very short purple being with pointed ears and wings would definitely be just cause for a double-take.

Avea closed her eyes, enjoying his touch, and then just as he was leaning down toward her they both heard something.

"Hellloooooo!"

_Jack, I'm going to have to kill you!_ Daniel quickly released her, and both stepped back.

"I'm coming, Jack!"

Avea noticed the frustration in Daniel's voice and smiled to herself as she watched Daniel locate a rather large stick and take it inside to check on Jack. She followed him.

Once inside, they found Jack propping himself up on the table, with his good leg hanging off the side just swinging. He noticed that both his friend and the Purple One looked a little pink around the cheeks, and though he raised an eyebrow at Daniel, no one mentioned it.

"Where are Carter and Teal'c?"

"Ah, they went to check on the Stargate. They should be back in an hour or two."

"Oh…Did Carter get that thing built?"

Daniel nodded. "Yes she did, but we can't use it until at least after dark. She said she would have to use the stars to calculate the position of this planet and Earth and their relationship, or something to that effect. You know how she gets when she's excited about some new technology." Daniel shrugged, and Jack looked at him rather pointedly.

"You're one to talk."

Daniel shrugged again sheepishly. "Yeah, well…anyway, Sam left this for you since she knew you'd get bored." He handed Jack the stick and knife.

"Why that wonderful Major." He grinned as he accepted it.

Avea handed him another drugged cup of tea, and then she and Daniel sat down against the wall to keep Jack and each other company as Jack alternated between sips of tea and making a mess of woodchips on the floor.


	15. Chapter 15

Jack stepped through the gate with some help from Carter. Daniel followed, side by side with Avea, and Teal'c brought up the rear.

"Colonel O'Neill?" General Hammond's exclamation was laced with disbelief. Not that he had doubted they'd return, but the speed of their return and the accompanying alien were both somewhat surprising.

"In the flesh, sir."

A medical team had been summoned to the gateroom as soon as SG:1's signal had been received, and they bustled in at this very moment. Dr. Frasier was leading them. Seeing the Colonel leaning slightly toward Sam, she went and met them at the base of the ramp. When she arrived, Jack threw her for a loop. He enveloped the small woman in a bear hug, lifting her off the ground and spinning her around.

"Colonel?" she squeaked.

"Doc, have I ever told you how wonderful you are?" He finally put her down when the room started spinning and leaned again on Sam.

"You're usually too busy trying to get away from me."

"Ah. Well, henceforth I will try to be much more appreciative. Even when large needles are involved."

General Hammond interrupted the reunion with a sentiment everyone was feeling. "Major, what happened?"

"It's a pretty long story, sir, but suffice to say that the Colonel has had a rough few days."

"Rough, Carter? I got _shot_. Twice!"

Janet's eyes widened as she searched him for the wounds he spoke of, but found nothing except the holes in his vest and pant leg.

"Where? You seem mostly ok now, except maybe a little weak."

Daniel took his turn at interrupting next. "Actually, we owe our new friend the thanks for that."

For the first time, all eyes seemed to focus on Avea. She had hidden her wings behind her again, but she hadn't worn her cloak. (It and a few of her other clothes were packed in one of her bags, which Teal'c had volunteered to carry.)

Daniel made introductions. Again. "General, this is Avea." She bowed slightly and gave him a small smile in greeting. "Avea, this is General Hammond. He's in charge of things around here."

General Hammond still had a confused look on his face, and so did Janet, so Sam took up the narrative. "She helped us with a power source for the long range communicator that helped us get off the planet."

"It would seem that we do owe you thanks," the General told her.

"Sir, that's not all." Jack had regained his bearings by now, and he felt he should speak up. "All joking aside, sir, she saved my life."

A moment of surprise and curious silence followed.

"It's true," Sam said. "We thought we were going to lose him the first or second day, and we would have if she hadn't shown up."

Another brief pause followed, and this one was somewhat awkward. Finally Janet ended it with a firm order for the Colonel. She pointed at him as she spoke. "Infirmary. Now."

"Whatever you say, Doc."

Janet looked at Sam with a surprised smirk on her face, as if to say 'he really did have a rough time, didn't he?' Sam returned with an affirming, if sympathetic, look.

General Hammond nodded in approval.

"We'll debrief at 1600 hours."

When 4:00 pm finally rolled around, Janet allowed Jack to attend the briefing on the condition that he came straight back when it was over and stayed for a couple of days to regain his strength. She also wanted to run a couple of tests to see if Avea's particular healing methods had left any detectable signs.

SG:1 had finally explained everything that had happened while on the planet, and Janet now understood why Jack had been so happy to see her. The 'hell' he had been through, though for his own good, would have made anybody long for home with all its comfortable drugs.

Jack had introduced Avea as their faerie good luck charm. After the initial shock of discovering the wings that went with her pretty purple coloring, everyone seemed to pretty much take it in stride. Janet did want to collect some data, and Avea had agreed to go with her after the debriefing. She had also agreed to meet Cassie, whom Janet and Sam were sure would be eager to meet her (and possibly go catalog shopping).

Once all this information was out of the way, the group moved on to discussing the details of leaving the planet and other miscellany, most of which was fairly irrelevant.

They had managed to make contact with a passing Tok'ra ship after about 2 and a half days of trying. According to Sam, three days was a really short time span to have gotten so lucky. The passing ship was on a fairly important mission, so they couldn't take the team home. Instead, SG:1 and their new friend had been deposited on a nearby planet with a stargate.

Avea had let Sam finish healing the Colonel, which was part of the reason he was still weak from blood loss and fatigue. The other part was that no matter how skilled the healer is, that kind of trauma takes significant recovery time.

Avea had brought some of her more mobile things with her, including the majority of her ornate kitchenware, her assorted collection of tools, and most of the medicines and spices from her treehouse (which Janet wanted Sam and Avea both to help her study).

Sam's skills with Goa'uld technology had improved significantly in the past few days.

Daniel was just glad to have found a new friend, and such a wise and interesting one at that. (They had finally shared a brief kiss, not too long before they made contact with the Tok'ra. Neither had mentioned it to anyone yet.)


End file.
